Lean, Green, And Very, Very Mean
by ToTheMoonAlice
Summary: A female version of the Rookie ends up with Shepard and her crew on their hunt for Saren. Story of how the Rookie effects and deals with her new life, and how the people around her change because of her.
1. The Rookie

**4 Years after drop**

**UNSC Infinity**

**Chapter 1: The Rookie**

The Rookie awoke in her pod as an emergency klaxon wailed over the speakers. Whereas most might be groggy after their nap, the Rookie wasn't. She spent all of her time training, fighting, surfing the internet, or sleeping. So for someone who spent a quarter of their day asleep, it wasn't hard to get up.

She looked around to see a group of soldiers stumbling around like idiots. Albeit, they were _her_ idiots. They bumped into holo tanks and shouted obscenities when running into each other, in a horrible mess of trying to get armour on. Suddenly, as she got up out of her pod to help, a red wall of light passed through the room. All of the electronics in her armour were EMP'd, and had to reboot themselves. One of them spotted her and jogged over, trying not to trip on the various items scattering the floor. Though he had armour on, she recognised him from the snipers shoulder armour and headgear. Romeo.

"Good to see it didn't take a sniper stock to the face for once. I'm guessing you didn't know what happened?" She nodded in reply to his question. "We were just sitting around when all of a sudde-"

His sentence ended there when a huge creaking noise carried throughout the room. _Sounds like the hull is under stress_ she thought to herself. That could only mean two things. They had sustained heavy hits in a firefight, or they were entering a strong gravity well. Another one of the troopers connected the dots too. Buck. "Shit. We're making planetfall. _Infinity _isn't designed for this. Everyone get ready to drop." They all looked at him with shocked faces. "I have a feeling the captain is going to want everyone off of this ship." Everyone just stared, completely dumbfounded. "Get all the equipment you can carry." They hesitated a moment longer. "Pods. Now." Finally they did as they were told.

The Rookie ran up the the armory station and grabbed all of her favourite weapons. An M7S SMG and M6 pistol, SRS99C - S2 AM sniper rifle, and BR85HB SR battle rifle. And of course, her trusty combat knife. She stuffed them all in her pod wherever they could fit, and climbed in, waiting for the go sign. Sure enough, as Gunney had guessed, the captain ordered full evacuation. Marines to all available space capable craft. Non-essential navy personnel to the lifeboats, and ODST's to their pods. They of course, would be the first to leave.

All the front hatches closed on their pods. The pod launch tube doors closed so as to avoid the room being exposed to vacuum, and the launch doors opened for them to see what was happening. Below, was a vast metal ball, planet sized to be precise. And in some sort of hatch on the planet, the _Infinity_ was being pulled into. It was massive, and it looked like pure blue energy occupied it. Soon enough, the ship would begin to enter it, and who knows what would happen once it did.

Gunney's voice came in over the radio again. "The captain has sent us all the order to enter it. Apparently it is a scanning barrier, that big blue thing. On the other side is jungle from what their AI can tell, but he doesn't want to have anyone not needed on board for when they do reach it." He added skeptically "If there is anything down there. We have our orders. Oorah?"

In a rather unenthusiastic tone, everyone besides the Rookie added in an oorah too. She simply stared down at the blue thing growing bigger beneath their feet. A small bump was felt as they were lowered to launch positions, and a countdown timer began to read off the seconds till inevitable death, or one of the craziest theories she had ever heard becoming realized. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1 The Rookie always thought that pause between 1 and launch was longer than the rest. Like reaching 100% takes twice as long as reaching 99%.

Launch.

Her pod dropped, and she saw many other do the same. For a second, there was that amazing feeling of weightlessness and adrenaline pumping through her body. But as normal, it dissipated in a few seconds. She took manual control of her pod as was routine too, but this was in fact, a very bad move this time.

* * *

The frigate _Nerataza_, one of the _Infinity's_ escorts, had also been caught in the gravity well. Unfortunately, it wasn't as lucky. It didn't have the structural integrity that the _Infinity_ did, and was ripped apart by the overly strong gravitational pull.

Its slipspace drive steadily went through space. It was already primed s the captain had attempted to activate it, but the gravity interfered too much. Now through space it went, alongside humanities new flagship.

Just as it passed by the underside, the ODST's launched from there. The chances of one hitting the other were extremely slim. And yet, people beat the odds continuously.

One pod was a little accelerated in its launch. The countdown obviously was a few milliseconds too fast. But that was enough. In that time the drive would have avoided the Rookie, and she would have just thought it a lucky miss. But instead, something marvelous happened.

The pod, on its milliseconds head start, smacked into the drive. Normally, the drive would have not been affected, but it was already primed, and as it had no power source, it had to rely on its dwindling one. It took measurements of the pod and opened a portal for it. Where it would go was randomised, possibly not even to slipspace. The odds of the occupant surviving even in a full planned jump were 0.01%. And yet, in this most unlikely of situations, those odds were beaten. The pod fell through the portal, causing the occupant to fall into instant unconsciousness.

* * *

The Rookie awoke in her pod as a small warning chime sounded over the speakers. This time she was groggy. Probably because she just made a drop onto the planet asleep. She tried to move forward, but soon realised the pod was on its back. _Just my luck_. She tried to see what was outside, but could only see dirt on the small windows. _At least Gunney and the AI were right about this one._ She sighed and keyed in the release key. She waited a moment and then the pod hatch blew off into the air. Thankfully, she wasn't coated in dirt from it. She saw a red sky. _Odd. No tall trees. Maybe the AI was wrong about the jungle bit?_ She put her hands around the edges of the pod to pull herself up, and when she did, she almost wished she hadn't. _Definitely not jungle _she thought to herself.

In front and around a mile away, she saw large towers that looked like habitats. She guessed on Forerunner. That would be a reasonable assumption, seeing as it was a Forerunner world they were investigating. But then something caught her attention. On the side of these buildings were the words "Eden Prime". Forerunners didn't speak or write in English. So what were these doing on a Forerunner world? That wasn't what made her wish she hadn't left though. There were two reasons. The first was around 20 metres back, to her 8 o'clock. A group of humans were impaled on 10 foot tall spikes. She knew they definitely weren't UNSC thanks to the clothes they were wearing. That meant that they could only be Insurrectionists. While she still hated them for that, and them on spikes only added to her questions, _they didn't deserve something like_ _this _she thought.

The second thing that worried her was that all around her, she could see AA fire, and hear small arms too. And off in the distance a ship was just sitting about. It wasn't the biggest ship she had seen, not after the _Infinity_, but it was still damn big, It was also completely unknown to her. Didn't look Covenant, and no way does the UNSC have something that looks like this. It looked sorta like a sharp clawed hand with a really oddly shaped forearm. _Maybe it is the Covenant. They make their ships look like space whales. Why not giant crippled space arms?_ The Covenant's logic in anything completely perplexed the Rookie.

As she stood in her pod, she leant down to pick up her weapons and put them on her. Sniper on her back, SMG and pistol on right and left thighs respectively. She had her BR in her hands and her knife already strapped in on her left breastplate when she realised she forgot to bring grenades. _Gunney did complain of an abundance of my explosives hurting his ears._ _No biggy._

She stepped out of her pod so she could begin to get a move on. Quickly, she opened UNSC E-BAND. Oddly enough, no-one was available on that frequency. She checked all the standard ones, none functioning, besides one playing reggae reggae for the radio station "Momma's Station". She really hoped that it wasn't the marines having a laugh. _How could they stoop so low?_ she thought jokingly. She decided to broadcast on all frequencies. This was one of the few situations she ever spoke in.

"This is..." She didn't want to use her name in case it really was Innies, and they found out who she was. Still, she had to risk it. "Lance Corporal Jane Doe of the 105th Shock Troops Division. Requesting assistance at last known area. Appears to be..." She looked around for landmarks, anything that could give an idea of where she was roughly. "A cliff which faces towards three towers with "Eden Prime" painted on the side of them."

That would have to do. She placed a physical beacon down too, with the message encoded, and proceeded down the incline that was in the opposite direction of the cliff face. She didn't get far before she saw something big and floaty that resembled a Huragok. Something came to mind. She tried whistling to to it, a very particular whistle. Nothing, however, happened. She wasn't going to shoot one, though she didn't think they were in fact engineers like Virgil. _He was a pretty damn good guy. For an alien anyway._ She continued on still wondering what the hell this place was when all of a sudden a ship flew overhead. It wasn't big at all, more like a corvette, but still. She decided to stay on the side of caution, and hid behind a tree. She was now at a much narrower part that had rocks and trees in plenty. She quickly found cover and propped up her BR against it in case the people in that ship got her beacon and weren't feeling like playtime.

_Well then. Lets see how you like energised lead in your face._

* * *

Shepard, Alenko, and Jenkins jumped off of the Normandy. They knew things were going to be bad, but almost instantly they were a) Repulsed and infuriated. b) Intrigued.

They saw something they were completely unprepared for. Three spikes stood tall, emerging from a bluish purple base, with humans stuck halfway down them. Innocent colonists. _Whoever this was is going to pay_, Shepard thought to herself. _I promised to my family and I will not let that go now_. Alenko stood and simply observed it, as if trying to figure them out. Jenkins, however, had his mind occupied by other things. "Hey, commander, look at this." At first it looked like a pile of loose dirt, _a mass grave or something I'll bet_. But as she got closer, she saw that it was something covered in dirt. She looked in a hole on the centre and saw a pod, slightly taller than herself, with a single seat in it. There were instruments all over the damn thing, and at the armrests were two joysticks.

She stood and simply sighed. She had no idea what to think. "Jenkins, this thing looks like it had a door, go find it." He looked a little annoyed at the fact that he couldn't stay to observe it, granted it looked pretty cool, but they had more important things right now. Alenko walked over too. "Any ideas?" she asked him.

He looked as perplexed as she. "No. First those spikes, now this. I'd really like to study this though, see what it does." He paused a moment. "From what I see right now, it looks like something that gets dropped from up high. Couldn't say the exact function though. I th-"

"Woah, this is fucking cool." here again was Jenkins, holding something that didn't look like a door. "I couldn't find any doors commander, but I found this. Don't know what it is, but I figure you might. She took it from him, and looked it over. It was very simple, some switches, buttons here and there. Nothing weird about it really. Just as she twirled it around, her fingers caught on a button. A voice emitted from it. Female.

"This is..." There was a short gap. "Lance Corporal Jane Doe of the 105th Shock Troops Division. Requesting assistance at last known area. Appears to be..." A slightly longer gap came up. "A cliff which faces towards three towers with "Eden Prime" painted on the side of them."

That just asked far more questions than it answered. Shock Troops? Jane Doe? Not knowing where she was. This was a perfect set up scenario. "Alenko, any opinions?"

He took less than a second to answer. "Trap ma'am. Most definitely."

"Agreed. Everyone on full alert, we've wasted enough time here already. Jenkins, you're on point, move out."

* * *

The Rookie had waited for a good five minutes before taking her leave and continuing on. Most likely the ship flying by was just trying to get out of here. She went on, taking in the sights around her, occasionally stopping to check her motion tracker. All clear asides from some birds. She reached a wooded area what led to a small slope down to another flat piece of land. This time it was different however. She saw a woman in white and pink armour running for her life from some small flying drones. The woman was being shot at by them, and was shooting back.

The Rookie also noticed two large figures standing about beside some more of those odd spikes. They looked really weird. _Like, weirder than some of Romeo's jokes _she thought. Then she saw it. They were robots. Damn robots. Not sentinels. Actual biped robots. With guns. _Well, if they're not human, I've got free reign. _She shouldered her BR and set it to semi-auto, so as to test the waters of her new enemies. She let off a single shot, and saw a shield flare on the robot they hit. _Shielded means tough. _She let off another two shots, the robots still confused as to where they were being shot from, were easy targets. What she didn't expect however, was that last shot broke through the shields and completely disintegrated the robot. _Crap shields, I guess._ She focused fire in the second one who had no chance now. At least that's what she thought.

He was hit by the first and second, but suddenly his shields flared up again and withstood her shots. _What the? _She fired off a few more, but to no avail. Instead, she then helped clear the flying drones from the woman's position, though the stranger now seemed to be in much more control thanks to her cover. Once that was finished, she looked over to see the robots shields flaring down once again. This one was clever though. He knew her position now and suppressed her. She could take a few hits, but she didn't want to try it. Fortunately, it didn't count on the stranger. She had finally regained herself fully, and popped up to quickly put six rounds in the head of the robot and finish it off.

The Rookie scanned the area with her new night _and_ day VISR before deciding it was safe again. She held the rifle the the grip in one hand, and slid down the muddy slope to the strange woman. She cautiously walked up to her. The Rookie still didn't know if the woman was Innie or something else completely. The woman held out her hand and the Rookie shook it. The woman started first "Gunnery chief Ashley Williams o-" The Rookie instantly snapped off a crisp salute, standing to her full height of 6'1". Williams said "At ease. I'm part of the planets garrison. I heard your distress signal, you're the shock trooper, yes?"

That made sense of why the woman was running in the Rookies direction. The Rookie simply nodded at the statement. Williams looked a little taken aback that the Rookie hadn't spoke to her. At all. "Umm, well, I guess you're here to help then." Williams asked a with a hint of hope in her voice. The Rookie wasn't sure of what to say so she just shrugged. "So what, you _might _be here to help us, might _not?" _That seemed to be about the gist of it. So she just nodded her head. "Do you ever speak?"

"Sometimes." the Rookie said. She didn't know why she spoke. She just did. _Weird_.

A loud series of gunshots were heard from over where the Rookie had come from. She put her hand up to interrupt any further conversations from starting. She made a get to cover hand signal and fortunately Williams understood it. A lot of things about this whole situation seemed wrong, but now wasn't the time or place for her to go into detective mode. They took cover and Williams also kept an eye on the direction where the drones came from. Nothing for a while, then the Rookie saw two figures emerge over the slope. They spotted her and took cover behind a tree. One of them, a woman, shouted "Commander Shepard, Alliance! Who are you and what are your intentions?"

Williams stood up and proceeded to the commanders position. _What the hell is the Alliance. Insurrectionist group maybe?_ "My name is Gunnery Chief Williams. Alliance too. I'm part of the defense garrison." She waited a moment before adding the Rookie in. "The other one is a shock trooper. Doesn't talk much. BlackOps I'm guessing."

That was apparently good enough for the commander. Wait. _If they didn't recognise me as ODST, they can't have been Innies. ODST's have been fighting them for, like, ever._ The Rookie saw an opportunity and took it. "Correct. BlackOps. Classified." Shepard looked at her suspiciously.

"You're right, Williams. Doesn't talk much. Kinda like a Geth." Shepard joked. "Hang on a minute." Her and the other guy with her slid down the slope. She almost tripped and just laughed it off. The ODST was observing her when she saw something shimmer behind the commander. She pulled her BR up and fired six shots, to make sure the thing was dead. The first shot disabled a cloaking device. It was another one of those robot things. The second, third and fourth removed its shielding. The fifth hit its armour and damaged it. The sixth hit the damaged spot and the whole alien disintegrated in front of everyone's eyes. The commander and her crew mate just had a bizarre look on their face. They turned and Shepard just said. "I take it back. I've never seen a weapon like that before. I now know for sure this is a BlackOps thing. No idea what branch though. I suppose that gives you command right?"

The Rookie shook her head. She didn't want to lead, especially lead a squad of possible Innies. Though she was now doubting that theory. "You're higher up. You lead." she said simply to the commander.

"Umm, okay. Eh, I kind of want you in lead, but I don't know your name. Your real one at least." _So she did hear my signal. Good things BlackOps can get twisted like this. She doesn't know what to believe._

"Rookie."

"I kind of wanted your real name, or some operative name, or something better than that." The Rookie just shook her head. "Okay, why Rookie then? That kind of accuracy or skill isn't something rookies have. And BlackOps don't take rookies." The Rookie really did wonder why she was called that. She thought back to Buck, always calling her that. It must've started in New Mombasa.

"Nickname that stuck." was all she could muster.

"Alright, enough chit chat. Williams, what happened here?" Shepard was back to her cold professional self.

"I was just on routine patrol when that big mothership showed up out of nowhere along with those robots. I told my men to fall back, though we got stuck, and everyone except me was killed. And when I heard that a shock trooper was here, I bolted it to the cliff." Williams was a little distressed while saying this. It made sense, she had just lost all of her comrades. Shepard walked up to her and put a hand on Williams' shoulder.

"Hey it wasn't your fault. You did all you could, and you're still alive, so something must have gone right. Listen, I need you at the top of your game, got it?" Williams nodded.

With a steely resolve in her voice, she answered "Yes ma'am!"

"Good." The commander continued. "Well, _Rookie_, I want you on point. Alenko and Williams fall behind with me." She added at the end of that to the two newcomers, "By the way, this is Lieutenant Alenko, nice guy, biotics too." The Rookie had no clue on what "biotics" were. _Maybe they're like bionic prosthesis' but different? And what did she mean by Geth?_ "Mov-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Williams spoke up. "Sorry to interrupt commander, but all I have now is this crappy pistol."

"Right, well I'm a biotic as well as Alenko, so you can take my rifle." The Rookie seemed confused as it didn't look like Shepard had a rifle. But much to the Rookie's surprise, Shepard pulled a block off of her back, and at the switch of a button, it expanded into a rifle. Not a rifle she had ever seen, yet still a rifle. _Damn, I wish my guns could do that. _"You need a sniper too?" Williams nodded.

The Rookie thought to the rifle on her back, and how damn heavy it was. She coughed, and everyone turned to look at her holding her rifle one handed by the scope, outstretched to Williams. The commander said gleefully, "Looks like you're gonna have a lotta fun lugging that around."

Williams sighed and took the rifle. She looked for something on it, and eventually asked the Rookie, "Where's the fold up switch?" The Rookie just shook her head, grabbed the rifle, and put in on Williams back, her armour's magnetic clamps keeping it in place. She struggled under the weight. "Damn that's heavy."

Shepard smiled. "Now if that's all, let's get a move on."

The Rookie took point, followed by Shepard, Williams, and then Alenko. She raised her BR to her shoulder, and they moved forward until they reached a small platform raised off the ground, and a dip in the centre of it. Williams spoke up.

"That's where the beacon used to be. The Geth must've taken it with them."

"All right, look around for anything useful. Rookie, search that crate over there." Shepard was pointing to a blue and white crate nestled in a corner. The others split up, Shepard found another crate, Williams secured the perimeter, and Alenko looked for anything else of interest. The Rookie walked over to the crate, but noticed something odd. It had no keyhole, only a keyboard and screen. She attempted to remove the keyboard, but the whole thing was _inside_ the crate, not outside it. That was weird. "Uh, Com- Shepard, this crate doesn't have a keyhole, and the whole lock's inside."

Shepard just gave her an odd look. "Rookie, get your wits about you and use your omni-tool." The Rookie looked at Shepard's crate and saw it that it was already open. _Well, I don't know what an omni-tool is, but I've got the next best thing. _She shouldered her BR again and put a round through the keyboard. Shepard jus watched as the keyboard disintegrated and the crate door slid open. "That works too I guess." Shepard remarked. She thought for a moment, before asking "Wait, do you have an omni-tool?"

The Rookie shook her head. "What's that?" she asked. Shepard now had suspicion written all over her face again. _Shit, I guess that was the wrong thing to say_.

"What do you mean 'what is that'? Everyone has one. Literally." _Well, I've fucked things up. I don't even know what's going on anymore. Are these guys Innies? Am I even on that planet. There was that point in the drop whe- When I blacked out. What happened then? _"Rookie, answer me before things get messy. Who are you? Really." At this point Williams and Alenko were staring, as the commander started raising her voice. "Rookie. Now." she growled.

The Rookie came up with a question that could at least answer if they were Innies. "Have you heard of the UNSC _Infinity_?" Everyone looked completely blank. Alenko spoke up.

"What is that? What's UNSC?" Well, that at least confirmed they weren't Innies. Rather worryingly, they didn't know of the UNSC though. _Everyone_ knew of the UNSC. How couldn't they?

"What about the Covenant? Or the Forerunners? Or the Flood?" That didn't bring up a single response, just more blank looks. _Jeezo, way too much talking today. And besides, who are these people?_

"Rookie, you'd better start explaining yourself before I call in the guys with white coats and butterfly nets." That sounded pretty bad. The commander thought she was crazy.

"Commander, this world is under attack. You can give me a psych eval or I can help save this place. Your choice." The commander gave her a look that could stare into the soul of a hunter and make him weep on the floor for days.

"Fine," the commander said, ice flowing through her voice, "let's go. Alenko, keep an eye on her at all times." Alenko nodded once. "Let's move up."

After a 30 second jog up a hill, they came across a small burnt down encampment, and some more of those weird robot spikes. There were also people on them too, but not people as they should have been. Williams commented "Good god, what did the Geth do to them?" Geth. _Ooooooh, they must be the robots, good to know. Whatever it's worth now._ The people on these spikes were covered in something like electronics, glowing blue and bright, and had a metal looking, grayish skin. If you could call it skin. Williams suddenly shouted "Shit! One of them just moved!" She was right.

The "people" began to struggle on the spikes, and all of a sudden, the spikes went into their base and kicked off the people. They were more like husks of a person. _That's a pretty good name for them. Husks. _When the _Husks_ got back to their feet, they began to wildly run at the group. Alenko shouted over their strange gurgling noises "Don't let 'em close to you!" And he was right. The Rookie shot one of the husks with her BR with a three round burst and he disintegrated, only two of those shots were needed as well. One however managed to run up, and while she got it, it proved to be nothing more than a distraction. Another one ran up to the side of her. Normally, her squad would have spotted it and saved her from harm, but these guys weren't her squad, and they didn't get to her in time. The husk slashed at her with extremely sharp talons, and it cut through the jumpsuit between her right shoulder plate and gauntlet. It was a small opening in the otherwise protective armor, but even though it was a small cut as well, it stung like a bitch. She screamed out in pain and put a round into the creature's head. It disintegrated on the spot.

She saw the others finish off the last few. Williams ran by a piece of debris, took cover, and began to fire rather wildly at the husks. While it would be good against Innies or the Covenant, these creatures seemed not to understand the concept of suppressive fire. Still, there were enough bullets to take out a few. What she saw from Shepard and Alenko though completely caught her off guard. They were surrounded by blue force fields of some sort sort, and energy was shooting out of their hands. Some things they did were different. One bolt could rip the husks apart, while another made some weird singularity that lifted everything into the air. As well as these strange powers, they also just gunned some down with their pistols. Alenko was firing off his like crazy, when all of a sudden it stopped firing and steam blew out from the sides. _Their weapons overheat? Only Covy weapons do that._ She thought of questioning those odd abilities that Alenko and Shepard seemed to have, but remembered how the whole omni-tool thing had given away her short lived lie. She regained herself and took out two more, before all the husks were finally dead.

She looked at her ammo counter on her BR. Two rounds left. She ejected the clip and slotted a new one into place with a satisfying _clack_ noise. She stooped down to retrieve the clip off the ground. _Might come in handy later. You never know._ She looked around to survey the damage. 13 dead husks and an angry wound. Williams looked Rookie looked at her and gave her a _what is it?_ shrug.

"Rookie, you don't have a shield either do you? And was that a clip in your weapon?" The Rookie just shook her head. _How would I have a shield? That stuff's expensive._ _How do you even have one?_ The commander turned to the Rookie as well, while Alenko inspected the husks. Shepard was angry still.

"You got a deathwish? No shields or barriers? You'd better start telling me what's going on."

The Rookie just grunted. "The feeling's mutual."

"What's that mean?"

"Nothing"

All of a sudden, a gunshot went off in the distance, rather loud, and only one. They all looked at each other.

Shepard simply pointed for everyone to move up. They continued up and past some destroyed container looking things. After a minute or so, they reached an small overhang and saw some kind of loading are occupied by Geth and husks. "I call 'em Husks." Everyone looked at her. "Those people things. Husks." _Well, that didn't help my cause._

Alenko spoke up. "Hey Williams, use the Rookie's sniper to take out some Geth from here, you'll be able to take them out easier." Ash nodded. Sounds like a plan. The Rookie gave her input.

"Just lie down." Williams seemed to get the message. She lay down and unfolded the bipod. The Rookie gave her an extra clip, and a quick demonstration of how to reload. The three continued down the hill, and when took cover behind a group of rocks, opened fire on the Geth. The Rookie decided to work through this horde of two dozen or so like a video game boss. Minions first. While Alenko and Shepard shot whatever was closest to them, The Rookie went for the husks first. Her BR was on semi auto, she fired two shots at every husk head. Meanwhile, Williams was slowly but surely taking out the farthest away Geth. Every time she fired, it was as though her shoulder dislocated. One Geth attempted to flank the Rookie, but she finished him off easily enough with the new sniper. While she liked the rifle, she did, however, need to ask the Rookie why this fired _bullets_.

They kept up fire, moving up a stairwell once the husks were cleared out. Williams was now also running up behind them to catch up, with her assault rifle in hand. Finally they reached the top and finished off the Geth. Alenko was looking at a body on the ground, trying to turn it on its back, but struggling. "Damn. Commander, it's Nihlus. Look." Shepard walked over and pulled Alenko away from the Rookie and Williams. The two just looked at the body. Something didn't seem quit-

"Williams, what is that?" the Rookie asked, nudging the body with her foot. It was still face down.

"Hey Rookie, you don't have to call me Williams, Ash is fine. As for that, well, what do you mean by that."

She nudged the body again. "That."

"Well, that, is a special armour mad-"

"No. I mean, you know, what is it? _It_? Human?"

"Ohhhh, you mean the whole thing. That is a Turian, the Council's main military species. Wait, how don't you know that?"

"How don't you know about UNSC _Infinity_?"

"Touchee."

"Just don't tell your commander I didn't know. I'll tell her myself.

"Got it. Us grunts have to stick together right." The Rookie just grunted in agreement. _That was one of the longest conversations I've had in a long time_.

They waited a little longer for the commander and Alenko, the Rookie hoping Ash would keep true to her word, and sure enough, she did. They were getting given the move out order again when something popped up in the corner of the Rookie's eye. She spun and almost shot before realising he was human. She looked him over. Late 40's/ early 50's, short, civilian clothing. Shepard kept her gun pointed even as everyone else put theirs down.

"Who are you?" Shepard asked him.

"Wait! Don't shoot. I'm one of you, Human!

"Sneaking up on us like that nearly got you killed. Who are you anyway?" Ash asked.

Sorry, I was hiding, I didn't want to be killed by those... things. My name's Powell. I saw what happened to that Turian. The other one shot him.

I need to know how he died. Shepard said, with a commanding attitude.

"That one there, he was looking around when this other one showed up, Saren, I think he called himself. They acted like they knew each other. Your friend seemed to relax. He let his guard down. Then, Saren shot him right in the back." He waited a moment before adding, "I'm lucky he didn't see me hiding behind those crates."

"Where did he go?" Alenko asked him.

"He jumped onto the cargo train over there, took off with some robots following him. Oh man, I need to get off this planet. First the mothership shows up here, then everyone gets killed by robots, I'm the only one left." The man looked as though he was in shock.

"How come no one else hid. How were you the only one who survived?" Shepard suspiciously asked him.

"Well, I was already hiding. Every shift, I go behind these crates to get 40 winks." he said nervously.

"Lucky break for you I guess." Shepard commented.

"Oh, yeah, there was one more thing. This fell out of the sky, and somehow survived, while I was hiding." He rummaged in his pocket, before pulling out a small chip, about the size of half of the Rookies palm in width, but much shorter in length. It was almost extremely thin. _Something about that seems fa- _Suddenly the Rookie jumped to the guy and pulled it out of his hand. She put her rifle on her back, pulled out her pistol, and placed it on the Powell's forehead. "Shit, what is this, why!" he shouted. Everyone looked shocked, but figured a possible BlackOps agent knew what they were doing. Even if they did doubt the Rookie's story, they weren't going to chance it.

The Rookie simply asked "Do you know what this is."

"No!"

"Did you learn anything from it?"

"No. Please do-" He was weeping now.

"Do you know who it's property of?"

"No! I don't know anything about it!"

She removed the pistol from his head. "Looks like you're free." She paused a moment. "Go." _There's no way I'm just let an AI fall into possible Innie hands_.

The Rookie didn't enjoy having to threaten a civilian, but if he had learnt anything from it, he would've given it up at the hint of torture, so the UNSC needed to make sure no one civilian knew about any classified intel. In her time, she had seen a few ONI agents go somewhere secluded with loose ends, usually civilians, and come back without them. Hers was not to question, but she didn't like it. Not at all.

The Rookie looked at the chip in her hand. She had thought it to be an AI chip, and it was, but there was no AI in it. Odd. She'd have to investigate later. She slumped a little. An AI would be great at this point. _Would've liked to see Virgil again_. She thought of the whistle from Sadie's audiologs.

"Why did you just whistle?" She turned around to see that it was Ash who asked and Alenko and the commander were just watching.

"I didn't realise I did. Come on. We've got work to do." She began walking to the cargo train. Ash was the first to catch up. The Rookie quickly swapped her pistol for her BR again. A short 10 second walk led them to a large train.

It looks like the controls are on the front of the train. Come on, looks like there are Geth to fight on the way. As they stepped onto the train, a round went just over the Rookies head, and she did a forward roll to a short wall, one that the train was covered with for some reason the Rookie couldn't even hope to figure out. She quickly popped up but couldn't see where the coming fire was from. _Cloaked maybe? _It looked like the others were having an equally tough time getting targets. The Rookie suddenly came up with an idea. "Commander, roll over here now." Shepard hesitated, but then just decided she had nothing better in terms of plans. She rolled, and as she did, the Rookie leaped up and over her cover, activating her VISR. She saw a massive cloaked guy like the one behind Shepard earlier. She ran up and fired, but she only got one round out of her gun. She must've used up the clip in that last fight. It deactivated his cloak, so that was good. He was however charging at her, and her squad- no, the squad, didn't have a clear shot, and she didn't have the time to reload. So she did something no one else would have done.

Making stuff up, and taking a page from Buck's book, she waited till it was four metres from her. She then ran, jumped onto a small train wall, and jumped again. It had been timed perfectly so that she grabbed its neck as it ran by her. She swung onto its back, the Geth was around seven foot, and she was six, so it was pretty possible to swing, and wrapped a hand around its neck, while another went for her trusty knife. She pulled it off of her torso, and drove the knife straight into the centre eyepiece if the Geth. _That must have been its processor or something similar_ the Rookie thought, because that just switched it off. But, like it did to Buck it fell back on her and she was trapped underneath. She heard the others walk over to her.

"That was pretty damn impressive, I'll give you that" Ash told her.

"Thanks." the Rookie said rather dryly. "Now will somebody please get this thing off of me?" They all obliged and lifted the body off of her.

"If the Rookie's show is over, lets get on with the mission." Shepard said. Ash and Alenko helped the Rookie to her feet, she retrieved her gun, and they walked to the front of the train where Shepard was waiting. "All right, we all ready?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Here we go then." She hit a switch on the panel and the train began to move forward. The Rookie finally reloaded her BR. Then they waited.

* * *

Five minutes later, the train finally arrived at the place where Saren went. Shepard was fairly certain this Saren guy also had the beacon. She was going to ask Powell, but the Rookie had started threatening him over what looked like a credit chit or storage unit. _Damn, and I thought she was already crazy_. _A mute braindead psychopath_. _I play too many games_.

Shepard finally pulled out her pistol, and as they stepped off she noticed a large somewhat cylindrical device to their left. It took her awhile to remember what it was, but then she thought of a mission against batarian slaver when her squad destroyed a base with charges. "Demolition charges, the Geth must have set them up. Hurry up and find them all before they blow!" She knelt down in front of the charge and began to work on it. This was definitely not her area of expertise, and after a minute she was still struggling. "Damn! I don't know how long this'll take, go find the others, quick! They've only got a three minutes."

* * *

The three ran ahead, and soon found themselves facing heavy resistance as they moved along a walkway. They only managed to reach the second bomb of four when the timer hit T-minus 1:00. The Rookie leaned over her cover and shot two bursts at a Geth soldier and killed it outright. She ducked again. 0:57 left. Ash worked on the bomb, but she wasn't qualified just like the Commander. She could only think of one thing that would put out the bombs. A tactical EMP blast. Her armour could pull it off, but only with an AI, and she only had its chip.

_Well, we got nothing else._ She accessed the chip and pulled up its files. Oddly enough, it still had all of the functions of an AI, but it was missing the actual intelligence file. She was now holding the most powerful computer ever made, essentially. _That means the EMP would work._ The problem was, if she used it now, she would never be able to again. The suit only had a one time use on it, for situations like hers. _Only way of survival._ She brought up the arming file, and started it. 0:15._ Quickly, please._

She felt a large tremor in her body, and she collapsed to the ground from a strong electrical shock. As she fell, she saw the bomb lost all lighting, and the Geth fall over, dead. _Good riddance, you bastards. _She hit the ground and slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

**Alright, this is my first FanFic, so here goes. Reviews would be appreciated so I can see where I inevitably mucked up. Also, I am doing the Rookie as a woman. I have read quite a few Halo/ME crossovers, and they all appear to be 1) MC goes to ME Universe, kicks living shit out of everything OR 2) UNSC vs. Turians and/or Batarians in massive steroid/testosterone fueled war. So it's nice to have a lead female character from Halo, and I really wanted to write it in the Rookie's perspective. I also wanted to write a story about Lucy, but being a Spartan, she would be damn OP in Mass Effect, even if she is an S-III. So FemRookie seemed like the perfect compromise. Hope you enjoy. If you don't, tell me how I can improve. If you do, tell me how I can improve. If there is something I don't elaborate on in the chapter that seems pretty major, it'll be explained in an upcoming one. I hope. If I remember to. Well, enjoy.**


	2. First Impressions

**4 Years after drop**

**SSV Normandy SR-1**

**Chapter 2: Welcome To The Citadel**

The Rookie awoke to a horrible pain in her side. She tried to reach over to it, but her hands wouldn't respond. Her eyes tried to open but they wouldn't. She could feel herself lying on something soft, a bed maybe. She was reminded of her drop into New Mombasa, and her surprised awakening. She tried to hit out at the emergency release bolt, but neither of her hands would listen. She tried desperately to open her eyes. Even her mouth wouldn't listen to her commands. She tried calling for help, but all that came from her mouth was a series of grunts and moans.

She felt a hand grab her arm gently. Its voice was smooth and almost motherly. "Calm down, calm down. It's okay. Your nerves are just adjusting from that shock." The Rookie wanted to keep fighting, but soon could do no more as she felt sleep coming over her again. _Well, shit._

* * *

Shepard watched as the Rookie settled down again. She looked to doctor Chakwas. "You think she'll be fine doctor? I need to question her on some things she mentioned."

The doctor gave her a stern look. "Shepard, do you really think you should be questioning her? From what I heard she saved you and the colony."

"Doctor, she not only lied, but threatened a civilian at gunpoint. I need to know who she is, and who she works for. For all I know, she could have only saved the colony to get to me and destroy the ship or something!" Shepard was doing a kind of whisper shout that she often did when angry.

Chakwas merely looked on at Shepard with... what was that look? Pity? "Shepard, I've known you long enough to know that it's the attack of a colony that's making you angry, not this woman here." She pointed to the Rookie, asleep on the bed. "You miss your family, and you're perfectly entitled to anger, but please Shepard, don't take it out on this woman. Goodness knows her mind and body have enough scars already."

Shepard seemed to calm down a bit. "You're right doctor. I'm sorry for losing patience at you." She let a long sigh out. "I need to do it, but I'll be gentle, I promise. Anyway, what was that stuff about scars?"

Chakwas walked over to the Rookie and Shepard followed, standing on the other side of the bed. "She... Shepard, what's her name?"

"I dunno, she only told her to call her Rookie."

"Well, from the looks of it, she's anything but a rookie." The doctor pulled the Rookies newly adorned Alliance shirt off of her body, so that the Rookie didn't have anything besides a bra on the other half of her body. Neither of them minded. Shepard was in the army, so you just got over that stuff because it was pretty communal. And Chakwas was a doctor. Any squeamishness, and you didn't have what it took. "Let's start at the abdomen. Large scar from left side of waist to the navel. Skin regrowth pattern suggest the scar was cauterised at the same time that she received the scar. Most likely some kind of plasma blade, but that is speculation. Moving up, we have three inch scar across diaphragm, horizontal. Internally, her entire right lung is a replacement.

"Replacement?" Shepard asked, completely confused. "How'd she get that?" If this soldier had had a collapsed or ruptured lung in combat, she should have died.

"Well, I can tell you that it is her own DNA, not an organ donor lung. I know it's a replacement because it appears to be newer than the other lung, but aside from that it appears perfect. Next up is her left hand." She pulled up the Rookies arm, and moved the fingers around. Shepard was going to question why, until she heard something. Every time the finger moved it made a mechanical servo sound.

Shepard suddenly figured it out. "Wait, is that a mechanical prosthesis?"

"Yes, fully functioning with nerve endings in strategic placements, and skin grown over it, though it does appear to be some kind of artificial skin. It also appears that only the bottom three fingers are prosthesis. That's not the last mechanical implant either. The next one can't be shown directly because of its placement." She pulled the beds holo projector over, and a holo appeared of the inside of the Rookies body. "Notice anything odd commander?"

Shepard stared before finally admitting "You've stumped me this time doctor."

Chakwas smiled. She zoomed the holo onto the Rookie's head, and then told her. "Here, in the back of her skull, is a small computer interface. It is inserted directly into her Medulla, the primitive part of the brain, and has a connection to her optic nerve and from there can seem to project a HUD and information directly to her retina.

"That's pretty impressive, but aren't augs like that illegal?"

"That doesn't seem to have stopped our friend here. And finally, what I personally find most interesting, are her legs."

"Whoa, slow down there doc, you two only just met." Shepard joked.

Chakwas seemed to ignore the joke and went straight said "On a serious note, I think this'll interest you. Her legs seem to be incredibly strong boned, and have been broken, shattered, and fractured more times than I can count on my two hands. Whatever work she did, she was doing a lot of jumping."

"You're right, that does seem weird. That's a lot of breaks. You mind if I touch, see how strong they are?" _That sounded fucking weird._

"Go right ahead."

Shepard reached down and squeezed the Rookie's femur. She almost got a heart attack.

* * *

_You know the music time to dance... Check your mouths, find your chairs, and get set, for a combat drop... Slipspace rupture... Nuke?... _ _Rookie watch out! Something large hits my pod... I almost break my neck... then I wake up with my brother on Luna... we wrestle... I fall, and keep falling... below me is Earth... I fall without pod, silently screaming... I hit the ground, and as I do, I feel my leg tighten... No, it can't be real, no, no, No!_

The Rookie awoke with a scream and jumped up, headbutting the commander incredibly hard. She looked around and tried to see where she was. Then she felt the bed. _I was here just before_. She looked down, and saw her top off, only on a bra. _That's weird_.For a moment, she forgot about the commander, and then remembered, now her head hurting too, along with the other woman now trying to calm her down.

It was definitely the motherly sounding woman. "There there honey, it's okay, you're safe, lie back. Looks like those nerves are definitely back to nor-" She never finished her sentence.

Three people ran in, two she recognised as Ash and Alenko, and another she hadn't met yet. The man walked over to the commander. She stood with her head up, pinching her nose as it bled roughly. "Shepard, are you alright? " he asked with genuine concern.

"I think my nose id broken." she said in that way that people do when they have broken noses. "I might have gad a heart attack doo." Chakwas walked to the commander, and applied some kind of salve to her nose. It seemed to stop the bleeding almost instantly, though the nose was still slightly disfigured. The man turned to the Rookie, and she managed to get a clear look at him. He was black, early to mid fifties, and seemed to be of importance. Oddly enough, he sounded a great deal like the Arbiter, who she had seen once, at the Voi memorial.

"Soldier, you mind telling me what you're doing smacking my XO in the head?" he said rather angrily.

"Sorry sir, bad dream." _Great, there'll be more conversations today, I'll bet_.

"Well, you're not the only one. Shepard, you mind if I tell her?" the newcomer asked.

The commander's voice seemed to return to normal. "Go ahead. This still hurts like hell."

"Very well. Oh and soldier, I'm Captain Anderson." The Rookie snapped off a quick salute. "At ease. After you did what you did with that EMP, you deactivated all the bombs and Geth, probably saved the colony, so you do deserve thanks. Alenko carried you until you all found the beacon. He proceeded to put you down and investigate the beacon, while the commander radioed for extraction. Alenko here began to be pulled into the air by the beacon, and the commander tackled him out of the way and was pulled up herself, and was shortly knocked unconscious. The chief and Alenko took you to the Normandy, and when she woke up, the commander told us she had visions of death and destruction. Now we are going to have to discuss dressed and head to the conference room. Dismissed."

The captain walked out with the commander, and Alenko left too when he noticed the Rookie was half naked. That just left the Rookie, Ash, and who she assumed was the doctor. _Visions of death and destruction. Damn, that's a monday morning for me._

The doctor walked over. "Well Rookie, it seems you have a clean bill of health, though I would like you to report back later. Is that alright?" The Rookie just nodded. The doctor handed her a shirt, and the Rookie put it on. A thought came to her head.

"My armour?" She asked to the doctor.

"Downstairs, in the hangar. You can get it after the interview, if you need it." she answered. "Ash will show you the way." The Rookie got up and swung her legs off the the table and got up.

"Thanks doctor."

"No problem, Rookie."

It was weird to not have armour on after two months straight with it. War Games tended to take all the energy out of you, and it was almost constant, so there was no point of removing your armour. The doctor added "Try not to cut yourself anymore. There are too many scars already." The Rookie just nodded again.

She walked to Ash. "Alright Rookie, you ready to meet the brass?"

The Rookie nodded. "Where are we?" she asked as she looked around the hall.

"The Normandy. I'll just assume you don't know what that is." The two walked out into some kind of mess area, where people were busy eating and chatting. "It's a joint project between the Turians and Alliance, the most advanced stealth frigate we have. Took a lot of credits and years. It's about 220 metres long, and packs a surprising punch." They walked to some stairs and began to ascend them.

The Rookie thought it seemed more like a corvette, but she hadn't seen the whole thing yet.

They emerged from the stairs and saw some kind of command room. _Damn sight prettier than UNSC ships, that's for damn sure_. They took an immediate right and entered into a circular room with comfortable chairs and a holo screen at the end. The captain and commander, along with Alenko, were sitting beside each other on the seats to the right.

"Hey Ash, over here." Alenko told her. Ash split away from the Rookie and sat next to Alenko. The Rookie took a seat opposite them. They all stared at her for about a minute, the Rookie just sitting back comfortably on her seat.

The captain was the first to speak up when the Rookie settled down. "All right, Rookie, I'm going to need your name, age, and birthplace. None of that alias stuff like Jane Doe. Then we're going to question you about the things on Eden Prime, and then expand beyond the report. Do you understand, and will you cooperate?"

The Rookie, while unsure of protocol at this point, decided to be respectful by engaging in full conversation, a difficult thing for her. "Yes sir. My name is Jennifer Li Dabrowski. Born on Crisium City, Naniwa, Luna. Aged 28." The captain seemed to make notes on his omni-tool. These people were probably not going to believe anything she said, and she had a theory why, though it would make her sound crazy. She was in fact, telling the whole truth. She was 28, and her name was Jennifer, though her family called her Jenni. Not a name she often heard people call her by anymore. The Li came from part of her heritage. Luna was the first colony ever, and was settled by joint Chinese and Japanese volunteers, and then became very popular with American, so that's where she got Dabrowski from, her mother's side. As for appearances, she took everything from her mother's side.

The captain continued with his interrogation. That's what it reminded the Rookie of. "The first thing of interest in the commander's report are your weapons. Tell us anything you can."

She wasn't sure if she should, these people didn't have them apparently. _But, if they don't have them, what's some random soldier describing them going to change?_ "My rifle has both ammunition in the form of bullets and energy, and can use one or the other at the flick of a switch. The bullets are just that. But the energy feature utilises recent tech. The rifle has a small power plant in the stock, and generates an energy beam almost the speed of light, but not quite reaching it. It travels down the gun, and when it hits the bullets they become superheated and almost into pure energy. Upon contact, the rounds create miniscule explosions that work well against shields, but don't really have an effect on the people other than minor itching. Don't ask me how it works, I'm just a soldier. But when the round hits flesh, I doubt itching is going to be their biggest problem" She paused for a second, her throat becoming soar. She wasn't used to this much speech. "Can someone get me a glass of water, my throat hurts."

The commander unclipped a flask from her side and handed it to the Rookie. "Thanks." She took a big gulp before continuing. "I also know that when in energy mode the whole bullet is fired. That's 65 percent more bullet, you know? Anyway, as for the other three, the sniper is a fifty cal so it really doesn't require energy, but the SMG, my favourite, comes in two different variants. The energy one has a bigger, fixed stock, and the bullets have been entirely replaced by energy. The problem is, that while they tear up flesh and armour, they do only half damage to shields, and can't be silenced. My version is different. It has fully changeable stock length, ability for almost pure silence, and can't fire energy rounds, but having a good damage against shields and three quarters damage against flesh and armour. I forgot to bring grenades, but those were just frags."

"This certainly is most interesting. Tell me, why is there no hybrid version of your SMG?" _Jeezo, how long is this going to last?_ The captain, and true of the others too, seemed most intent to listen to her story.

The Rookie continued with her explanation. "Simply put, the SMG is too small, and also it has a 50 round capacity, and due to some new materials being used, it's too expensive to give every round a special ingredient X, as it were. And lastly, for stealth purposes, the gun needs to be light, something which can't be achieved with a power plant." She took another gulp of water. "The pistol is simply far too small for the power plant, so now it comes standard with low yield explosive tips.I think that's the guns part done. What's next, sir?"

"Next is the lack of other technology. You don't have an omni-tool, or shields, or biotic powers. Care to explain?"

She just sighed. "With respect sir, this will take hours at this rate. I can draft a report with the answers to all your questions, but not only do I hate talking, I have a theory on why I differ so much from you." She put her most defiant face on, to try to convince them that she would see this as the only condition.

After a few silent minutes of thought, he leaned forward in his chair. "Very well, Dabrowski, I will forward all questions to you. I'll have you fitted with an omni-tool, and a shield as well. Now tell me of this theory you have."

"Well, it's slightly crazy, but I think..." she let the tension build, before just spurting out "I'm from a different reality."

That seemed to shut almost everyone, except Ash. Of all the people, it was her only 'friend', using the word lightly. Ash had a small laugh. "Really, Dabrowski, or whatever? Another reality? You do realise you sound just... completely crazy right now. How did you even come up with that?"

Alenko also spoke up. "Yeah, I'm a little more open minded than that, but it still seems pretty out there." Shepard oddly enough, remained quiet.

"And how did you come to this conclusion?" the captain asked, with suspicion written all over his face, and patronisation riding his words.

"Well, everything I have and don't have is completely different to yours. I lost memory before my last combat drop, and then woke up here. I would show you files off my amour's storage, but that will have been locked down after the EMP, and only a skilled tech or someone with access could unlock them, and after what I saw, I'm gonna say these fine, fine soldiers don't have those abilities." She pointed at the three soldiers. "You have to trust me on this. I am a soldier of the UNSC where I come from, and that makes it my responsibility to ensure the safety and survival of humanity, through actions big or small. I think my actions on Eden Prime proved this."

"I don't know if I believe you, but... I will trust you. You're right in your statement, aside from when you threatened the man. Care to expand?"

"Oh, yeah. The data held on that was classified top secret, but it won't work anymore. I've realised. As I activated it, I remembered that the chip must have lost EMP protection, so I essentially fried it. As for why I would've had to kill him, if he did know something, he wouldn't last long under torture, and plenty of people would try to get that info off of him." She hoped it made sense to them too.

"Makes sense to me too." Shepard agreed. "Say, if we do trust you, or at least one of us, you mind coming along on our mission? We'll need an extra hand at some point, and you look pretty proficient at combat. You up for it?"

"What other choices do I have. If the captain allows me, it'll be my honour to serve under your command." The Rookie hoped sounding all noble and shit would get the captain to agree. _I don't think I'll be going home anytime soon either._

The captain thought it over for a full 10 seconds. "Very well. So long as you understand that all your superiors in the Alliance are your superiors. Just because you are UNSC doesn't mean the rules don't apply. We clear?"

"Clear as crystal sir. You won't regret it." She stood up with a genuine smile on her face, actually pleased that something went right today. He stood up and they shook hands.

"Welcome aboard the Normandy, Lance Corporal Dabrowski."

"I prefer Rookie, sir."

"Very well Rookie." He walked to the door. "Everyone to the armory and get ready. Be on the bridge in 20. The Rookie took a swig from the flask and gave it back to the commander.

"Here you are. Thank you commander". The other two filed out of the door.

"Hey, eh, just call me Shepard. And I'm sorry for being pissy at you on the colony. My family was killed by slavers, and it reminded me of that down there." _Slavers? What sick shit buys a slave? This is definitely a different reality_. "Don't let it cloud your impression of me. I'm really sorry." Shepard appeared to have her head down in shame, still seated.

The Rookie just grabbed Shepard by the wrists and pulled her to her feet. "I know the feeling commander. My family was killed on a battle on Luna. I know how angry I can get at the thought. Don't worry about the apology, there was nothing wrong about what you said. Now come on, I can't have my new CO moping about, and not yelling orders at me, can I?"

"You're right. Get to the armory before I kick your ass." Shepard mock yelled at her.

"Now that's the commander I've been waiting on."

* * *

She had only taken a few minutes to find the armory. It really was corvette sized by the UNSC's standards. But still, the _Defiant _was small but incredibly bad ass.

The Rookie was currently getting back in her ODST armour, a pain in the ass unfortunately, another reason she didn't take it off often. As she finished strapping on the last piece, the chest plate, she saw Ash walk over. "Hey Rookie, or, Dabrowski, which do you prefer?

"Rookie."

"Right, well, I was just gonna ask of you wanted the sniper back? I mean, I've got my own now, so..."

The Rookie just nodded. Ash walked back to her locker and the Rookie followed, and got the sniper on her backpack again. Heavy, but still. "Hey Rookie, I just wanted to apologise for doubting you in there. I mean, I still kinda do, but I should have kept it quiet. It was disrespectful Sorry." The Rookie just shrugged. "Does that mean we're still good? she asked. The Rookie nodded. "So, how different are we in this new reality of yours?"

The Rookie couldn't tell if it was real or mock interest but she decided to humour Ash for the time being. "Very. We are xenophobic to aliens and just finished a thirty year war with them." To say the least, she had just thrown a right hook at Ash's jaw.

"Really. All aliens you're xenophobic to?"

"Except one enslaved race. We found them enslaved by the main aliens, and at the end of the war they defected to us, and we now treat them incredibly well." She waited a moment as she finished readying herself. "Now, please, I really dislike talking." She took a drink from her own water flask, and then firmly put her helmet in place.

"Let's stop goofing around then. The captain wants us on the bridge, ASAP. You'd better follow me." They went to the elevator, and waited before they reached the crew deck. _How bloomin' long does an elevator take to go up one floor?_ They finally reached the crew deck, and then had to jog up the stairs to get to CIC, as she had learnt it was called, then all the way to the bridge.

A few people have her odd looks. She hadn't been seen by them yet, and they looked pretty confused. _In my time and place, an ODST was met with cheers. Here, it's just mistrust, even of other Humans_. They arrived at the bridge. She expected it to be a large room with many stations, but there were just a few seats in a rather confined space. _How they manage to run the ship from here I will never know_.

The captain, Alenko, and the commander were already at the bridge. Through the glass she saw a large structure rapidly growing larger as they got closer. It had two rings, with a blue field being emitted from them, and they were spinning rapidly. The pilot with the cap announced "Coming up on the relay in 10!"

The Rookie had a panic attack at that point. Blue lightning began to hit the ship, and she thought they were being attacked. She was about to call out a warning when all of a sudden the ship jumped forward. Yet, there was no jump feeling. There wasn't any different feelings. Outside of the window, the stars were going fast by them, like in Star Trek. "We're about to exit." the pilot told them. And just like that they appeared in real space. As eerily normally as they entered the energy sword shaped structure.

In front of them was a large purple cloud, _A nebula_ the Rookie thought to herself. She was about to ask what one when something shut her up. They emerged in a clear space, where there were many ships and a space station. It was absolutely massive. It must have been at least 60 kilometres, and was separated into five different arms. Apparently, that wasn't the impressive thing though.

"Wow, look at the size of that ship!" Kaiden remarked. "It's main gun can one shot any ship."

"The Destiny Ascension, pride of the Citadel fleet." Ash called it.

"Not that impressive." The pilot bluntly stated. _I'm inclined to agree_.

"Joker, you're just jealous." Ash mock accused. _So Joker's his name? Why so serious?_

"Hey, I'm just sayin' size isn't everything." he defended.

"A little touchy are we?"

"How Rookie, how big was that _Infinity_, or whatever you called it?"

The Rookie saw how they lighted up at the sight of this rather Covenant looking ship, and felt she would seem a complete bitch to be smug, so with as much indifference as she could handle, she simply stated "Bigger."

Joker asked, to the woman he'd never met before "How small are the smallest?"

"Bigger than this."

Anderson interjected. "Well, I'm sure the Rookie can school us on ships later, right now we're going to dock with the Citadel. Everyone to the airlock. Docking in three minutes." They all went before the Rookie, and she went out last with a salute to Joker, and he did a stupid face back at her. _Great_.

They waited another few minutes, and when the door opened, she was surprised to say the least.

* * *

She stood rooted to the spot, watching the Turian guard shout at her again, though she didn't have a translator so she couldn't understand what he was saying. He was sitting on the ground, with a broken, what she assumed to be, nose, while his friend wrote something on his omni-tool.

Of course, the moment the alien with the gun moved to her, she grabbed his gun and smacked him in the face with the stock. _Just what you do as an ODST._

After the officer finally stopped fiddling around with his omni-tool, he closed it and looked up to her. "You got a legitimate excuse for why you hit an officer with his own weapon?" She just stared, not knowing what he was saying. "They teach you manners where you're from?"

Shepard decided now was as good a time as any to interject. "Sorry officer, she's never seen an alien before, and I think she got very nervous when an armed alien walked up to her speaking a language she couldn't understand. She doesn't have a translator you see."

"Well, I guess it's somewhat understandable. You'll have to forgive me for getting her name and details for an incident report. If yo-"

Anderson cut off the officer. "Excuse me, but I'm captain Anderson." The Turian snapped a salute, the Rookie still not knowing what was happening. The captain continued "We are under a tight schedule, we are off to see the council as you must have already confirmed. I'll send you details once we are finished, and I would request that my friend here receive a translator piece, as must be supplied by authorities."

The officer considered a moment. "Very well. If you will please follow me to customs, you shall receive a translator, and will be free to go." He turned to the other guard, "get yourself relieved from another officer, and make your way to Huerta, got it?"

"Yes sir!"

"Let's go then."

They began to walk to the elevator, the Rookie still completely in the dark as to what was happening, shrugged at Alenko when he looked over to her. "Ah, you don't understand. We're going to get you a translator, then go speak to the Council. Then, I don't know." He looked away a second before looking back and asking "What does ODST stand for?"

"Orbital Drop Shock Trooper." _Please no more questions._ Thankfully, none more were asked. People still chatted amongst one another, Ash and Alenko just had general banter, and the captain and Shepard were discussing Saren. At the end of the dock was an elevator, and they all crammed in. There was a news about a colony run by a corporation. _A colony belonging to a corp? Who the hell thought of that?_ The UEG never let corporations have their own colonies, but often corporations established them through UEG contracts. The elevator ride was so slow. _Maybe it's just part of being a helljumper, but anything that goes vertical in this reality is too damn slow._ They finally reached C-Sec HQ, and boy were there a lot of aliens.

Wherever she looked, there were not only aliens, but Humans too. One of the Turians walked over to the officer, and handed him a small thing in his hand that fit human ear contours. _That must be my translator_. The officer walked over to her, and handed it to her, not bothering to say anything because she didn't understand anyway.

She removed her helmet, and removed a stray strand of hair, and tucked it behind her ear. The translator looked too big for her ear, but surprisingly, as it touched her ear, it molded itself to its shape. When it finally went all the way in, the officer spoke to her, and she heard it in English. "Is that working ma'am?" She nodded. "Well, that's good to see. Is there any help you need with it?"

The Rookie considered a moment. Currently it had matched her own skin colour. "Can I colour it black?"

"Well, sure, if that's really necessary. Here let me just..." he worked on his omni-tool, before finally announcing "Got it. Will that be all?"

She looked at her ear in the reflection of her visor, before putting her helmet back on and being back to ruthless ODST. She shook her head. The officer told them "Right, well as I understand you're supposed to see councillor Udina first. I'll call a taxi for you." _It's good to finally understand aliens for once. Gives you the up on them_.

The Rookie wasn't sure what she had thought 'taxi' meant, she assumed it was just a car, but lo and behold, a _flying _car comes out of nowhere on the ledge they are standing on. _Well, that was unexpected_. "Alright, everyone pile in." Shepard ordered them. They all managed to fit in, though Ash and the Rookie had to squeeze in a bit tightly. _Looks like these things aren't made for many people, especially not armoured ones_.

Ash turned to her. They were literally touching shoulders in the very back two seats. The armour really didn't help. "So, what you think of the Citadel right now? It's your first time right?" She just shrugged. _It's impressive, but size... woah_. She looked out and what she thought would have been city, was actually a large curved garden place, and there were lots of the flying cars. _Skycars, I think I'll call them_. She now slowly nodded her head.

Ash asked "So, I take it that's a sign of approval? It's my first time here too. I feel the same." The Rookie normally doubted statements like that, but with Ash, she wasn't so sure. This was their first time for a lot of things. _First aliens, at least, non hostiles. First alien super capital space station. _Well, that was only two, but still. They also had things like meeting soldiers from other realities, and having a caring officer above the enlisted ranks. _Don't think Veronica counted_. "So, what's the capital for your government, Rookie? This is the alien one, and ours is also a massive space station."

She took off her helmet. It was the only way she really liked speaking, for some reason. "Our government is the UEG, United Earth Government, has control over all 800 colonies, stationed in the capital of Earth, Sydney, Australia. All colonies have their own government elected by their civilian population, and can make any changes to legislation they want, as long as they have UEG and CAA approval."

She said it quietly enough so no one else would ask her question. Ash, while seeming to get the idea, still was a little too loud. "Woah, hold up Rookie, 800. That is a load of colonies. Do you defend every single one?"

"Yeah. It's now every colonies job to have at least a one thousand man garrison, straight from volunteers from the colony, and a requisition will be given to ensure they have training and equipment." She took out her water flask and took a big gulp. _Dman throat's itching again_.

"How many ships are in your navy? You must need so many to ensure the colonies are safe."

"Just over a thousand at the height of its power. Of course, that all changed by the end of the war."

"What do you mean?" Ash asked but the question came too late. The skycar touched down, the Rookie put her helmet back on, and off they went. "One day you're going to tell me. I'll make sure of it." Ash, though undoubtedly still wary of the whole thing, and not fully trusting, just couldn't help but be intrigued by the possibility of another reality. And the more crazy things get, the more curious you are.

_This is some some sort of, what, helipad? _They all filed out, with the Rookie going last, and saw a door leading into a building. They walked in and emerged into a large hallway, with more Turian guards guarding the doors. She saw in English, on a sign, _Human Ambassador._ _Well, at least we have some kind of alien relations here_.

That was obviously where Shepard drew the line on taking people. "Hey, uh, Rookie, why don't you go get yourself a shield and an omni-tool. Here, I'll give you a credit chit." She handed the Rookie some small square chip, obviously for transactions. "It's got 5000, but do try to get something for a bargain."

Anderson also chipped in. "Also, go down the hall and take a right, and give this to executor Pallin. Make sure you do that first. Once your done, just explore around till we call." The Rookie nodded in confirmation. The others continued down the hall and entered a room. The reason for ditching her was obvious. They weren't just going to let an unknown, possibly crazy soldier meet a VIP. She didn't really get offended, but still, they could've just said.

She went into the room that was pointed out, and inside sat a single Turian. He looked up and noticed the Rookie. "So, who are you? You don't look like you're here to report a crime." She just walked over to him and gave him Anderson's chip. He scanned it with his omni-tool before saying "Ah, so the captain has given in that incident report. Well, luckily for you Miss Dabrowski, you're not being charged. I understand why you would be concerned if you have never met an alien before. Just, please, refrain from any more violence aboard the Citadel." _Anderson must have put my name into a database._ She just turned around and walked out without a word.

Her next job was to find an omni-tool. No doubt more useful than shields right now. She was excited about the prospect of shields. Some ODST's got prototype ones back on the _Infinity_, but that was rare. Most ODST's resented Spartans because they got advanced ones as a standard, but she didn't care. Frankly, they could have her firstborn, because they deserved everything they got. They essentially saved humanity, as much as the ODST's hated it. Of course, the main problem for the ODST's was that their role as SpecOps had been taken by the Spartans. Still.

She finally found her way out of the building, and found herself in a lobby of sorts. _Now for the shops. I love shopping. Shame I never get to_. She walked out of the room, and was now by a river in the massive curved garden. A hologram appeared before her and scared the living shit out of her. She jumped back, and looked at it. It looked like an AI. She removed her helmet.

"Hello, I am Avina, a VI designed for guidance around the Citadel. Logging on Jennifer Li Dabrowski. How may I help you?" it asked.

"I need an omni-tool."

"I see. If you take a left and head across the bridge, a Hanar sells them. Will that be all.?" The Rookie nodded. "Very well, logging you out."

She followed the instructions, but somehow got lost. She seemes to do that all the time. At least in New Mombasa there were those audio logs, but here, just aliens. And all she had brought in terms of weapons was her SMG and pistol. Somehow, she managed to find a set of stairs leading down, and in the hallway was one of those blue female aliens. So far she hadn't seen any of their males. The alien was the first to speak. "Welcome, I am Naylina, I don't recognise you as one of our expected clients today, would you like me to see when the consort will be able to meet with you?" _Um, what? A consort. Isn't that like a wife or something. _

The Rookie shrugged, again, not speaking. _Why is this woman wearing these clothes. Is this a brothel or something?_ Naylina spoke again. "Well, I'm afraid you can't just go in. The consort is very busy. If you leave a name, you should have an appointment, and she will make every effort to meet with you."

_Why the hell not? I'll probably be gone by that time. _She made her visor transparent so the woman could see her face. "Lance Corporal Dabrowski. UNS- I mean, Alliance."

Naylina typed something into the computer she was using. _Weird that I'm having a civil conversation with an alien. If Mickey could see me now_...

Her thoughts were interrupted by Naylina. "Very well, you should receive word in... three to four months."

_Wow. _"Nobody's worth that long." the Rookie told her.

Naylina laughed a little. "Well, that's not for me to judge. Now, is there anything else I can do?"

"Yeah. I'm looking for a Hanar who sells omni-tools."

"Ah, he should be right opposite the stairs you came in from. Is that all." The Rookie shut her visor back to black, and nodded. She began to walk out, and was halfway up the stairs when Naylina shouted out to her. "Lance Corporal!" The Rookie turned around. "The consort wishes to see you now." _Oh shit._ She walked backed down the stairs and stood in front of Naylina again. "If you would go up those stairs," she pointed to her right, "she will be waiting for you."

The Rookie gave a _what's going on _shrug. "I'm not sure. If you would go up she will tell you however." The Rookie turned to the stairs. _Well, let's go see._ She walked up and emerged into a large room, with another blue woman in the centre, her back turned to the Rookie.

The consort announced "That is close enough Jennifer." _How the fuck does she know my name?_ "You must be wondering how I know your name." _Damn right_. "I heard someone in armour never seen before was found on the Human colony that was attacked. True warrior, they said. I have a great many contacts and I heard you were on the Citadel. I was hoping you could come. I have a certain problem I feel I could use your help with."

The Rookie removed her helmet. "Maybe I can help."

I have a friend, Septimus, a retired Turian general. I won't discuss the details, but he wanted me to be more than I could be. We had a falling out, and now he spends his days in a bar, drinking, and telling others lies about me." For some reason, the consort put her hand gently on the Rookie's jaw, and pulled her hand down it. The Rookie was going to move back, but damn it felt good. _20 billion dead Humans are probably rolling in their graves._ "I was hoping that as a fellow soldier, you could speak some sense into him." Then, the consort put her hands on the Rookies waists and pulled herself in close, closing her eyes and putting the side of her face onto the Rookies jaw. _Alright, I'm drawing the line here. She may, I'm ashamed to admit, be hot, but that's crossing a boundary_. The Rookie peeled herself away.

"Alright, I'll do it, just no more touchy feely stuff."

"Thank you. Now I must ask you to take your leave. I have many clients today. Return once you have finished the task." The Rookie didn't stay in there one second longer, quickly jogging out of the room, down the stairs, through the hall, and to the shop to buy her omni-tool. _What the fuck is up with her? She's like a galactic hooker._

The shop owner was a bit of a surprise as well. He reminded her somewhat of the Huragok, but only because of the tentacles. The main body seemed to be one big floating pink... thing. "I'm looking for an omni-tool." she stated.

"This one has what you need." He held out a small chip. She took it, and a standard omni-tool appeared from it. "This one sees that it is your first. We are willing to discount it to 500 credits. Is the customer pleased?" She nodded and gave him the credit card. He took them off and handed it back to her. She inserted it into a small slot on her arm usually reserved for an extra USB, and was glad when the display still showed up, even when it was secured in the armour.

"You got any shields?"

"This one does indeed. Basic unit is 3000 credits. Will the customer accept transaction?"

"Yeah, can you help me fit it?"

"We can." He took out a small device from a shelf, that looked something like an armour attachment, and fitted it roughly where an armour attachment went. She felt an odd tingling, and then nothing. _I guess it worked_.

She nodded to the alien and left the shop, looking for a taxi. She walked up to where Avina was, and saw another Human talking to her. The woman turned around when she noticed the Rookie waiting. "Oh, sorry, I didn't realise you were waiting, I'll be quick." The woman returned to whatever she was asking the 'VI' about. About a minute later she finally finished, and turned to the Rookie again. "Sorry about that. So, are you Alliance?" She was obviously confused by the armour nobody had ever seen before. The Rookie nodded, not wanting to expand wrongly on it, and risk losing an already weak alibi. "Nice, I am too. I work for the R&D department. You?"

"BlackOps." she just replied.

"Wow. Not many people openly admit that. Wait, you're not Cerberus, are you?" The Rookie shook her head, the voice of the other woman made it seem like a bad thing to be. "Well, that's good. I don't suppose you would tell me anyway. You know, spy stuff, '_If I told you that I'd have to kill you_'" the woman joked. They both let out a small laugh at the reference. "So, she does make noise."

The Rookie made her visor transparent again. "Only when it's needed. I'm... Just call me Rookie."

"All right, but something tells me you're not really a rookie, are you? I'm Samantha, by the way. Samantha Traynor. But you can just call me Sam if we're going with nicknames." _I can do that._ "So, what brings you to the Citadel, Miss Spy?"

"Here with my new CO, she's seeing the Council. Doesn't want me there though. She thinks I might be an assassin or something." the Rookie informed her. She could often speak and have conversations, but she was only able to do them with certain people. Namely, her superiors when ordered to, and friends.

"Well, no offence, but I might have come to the same conclusion if you just got under my command. Well, I'm here to be evaluated in engineering by a council representative. They want to recruit me, but I'm staying with the Alliance no matter what they say." She said it rather proudly.

Then something clicked in the Rookie's head. _Engineer hired by prestigious people. Locked down files. _"Hey Sam, I need to call in a favour."

"Already? Most people wait a few days before asking one. But, I suppose I can. You're not so bad for a spy you know." The Rookie took that as a compliment. "What do you need?"

"My armours files have been locked down, and I need access to them, but there aren't any techies around. You think you can manage it?"

"Sure, doesn't sound too hard." She would soon take that back. The Rookie took off her helmet and handed to it to Sam. When she saw the Rookie she commented "Wow, and I thought all BlackOps spies were tough and had scars covering their faces." It was actually remarkable that she had no scars on her face. Usually, marines got one on their cheek or something from a missed needle, but thankfully, she always managed to avoid them. "Why is your hair that long?" Sam asked her. The Rookie had never actually been in the marines, but instead, the army, and the army and ODSTs were a lot more lenient on personal appearance than the marines, so she had always managed to keep her hair quite long. The same strand as earlier got loose and she tucked it back behind her ear.

"My unit is quite lenient on it."

"Well, you're one of the few then. Let's see..."

* * *

Sam put the helmet on, and was a bit shocked when the helmets HUD instantly was replaced with the words 'Unauthorised Access'. _How did it know so fast. How did it know at all. _"Rookie, your helmets locked me out." She heard the Rookie read out a series of numbers, and the helmet rebooted itself. _Quite the tech she's got. Whoever designed this is getting a fistbump from me._ An eagle with a shield covering it midsection, sitting atop a planet, with the banner underneath with the letters UNSC took up the whole display. _I need to know who these people are, they are so good with tech._ The eagle disappeared and the HUD came back up. _Alright, time to work your magic._

She was thinking of some way to pull up the file icon from the bottom left of the screen, when suddenly the files section opened up. She looked away from the newly opened window, and it then closed. She looked at it again, and it opened. _This is like an engineer's wet dream_ she thought to herself. She pulled up the master file, and quickly found the problem. In the event of EMP, all files are locked down to ensure survival but also so they cannot be secured by the enemy. _What kind of files does this thing contain_. She soon found out. Once unlocking them, which wasn't hard, she found over four gigabytes of orders in text and audio format, 17 terabytes of video, and oddly enough, 16 gigabytes of music. I have to sneak a peek into some of these.

"How's it going?" The Rookie asked.

"Almost there." Sam lied. She didn't like doing it, but she wanted to see what kind of music the Rookie liked. She wasn't stupid enough to look at classified info. Suddenly, without realising, she blinked at a song, and was almost deafened.

* * *

"Drop it!" A heavy electro beat sounded from the helmet and Sam threw it off in a scream. The Rookie ran over to see if Sam was alright, and saw she was okay.

"Sorry, I got there and looked at your music by accident. Damn, it's hard to control that helmet." Sam rubbed her ear, no doubt it was ringing. The Rookie, unbeknownst to anyone but her, had permanent ringing. She walked over to her helmet, picked it up, and hit a switch on the inside, stopping the song.

"I guess it's unlocked then?" The Rookie said with a smile.

"Yeah. What d'you need it for?"

"Proof of something. Thanks, by the way. So, what now?" the Rookie asked.

"Well, I was wandering if lunch sounds good? I've still got a long time to wait, and I don't want to eat on my own. Up for it?" _Well_, the Rookie thought, _I am hungry, and it would be cool to speak to someone for once_ _in this place about this place, and not be told to do something_.

"Sure." she answered. "Got any places in mind?"

"Well, there was this ba-"

"No. No, bars, I have something to do in a bar, and I'm going to be distracted from the dinner by it, I can tell. A restau-" She began to heavily cough, and had to take a drink before she could continue speaking. _Damn throat._ She cleared her throat. "Sorry. A restaurant?"

"Sure. There's a place down by the river over there. Sound good?" The Rookie nodded. "Let's get going then." They had only walked twenty metres when her fun ended. She heard a tone come from her helmet, which was in her hand. She accepted the incoming message.

It was Shepard. _Here's a rain cloud on my parade._ "Rookie, this is Shepard. Report to the bar Chora's Den. We've got work to do. Over."

The message stopped and the Rookie looked at Sam. "So sorry, Sam. Rain check?"

"Oh never mind. I don't mind eating on my own. Well, my task runs for a few months, so if you're ever back, I'll find you and hold you up to that rain check."

The Rookie felt bad, and so she decided to make it up to Sam. "Hey, my CO gave me some funds, and I don't need them anymore, so here." She pressed the chip into Sam's hand. "It's 1500. I don't need it." She knew Shepard would be pissed. But honestly, she couldn't give a fuck about what Shepard thought.

"Well, thanks Rookie. The least I can do is pay for a taxi. Here." She transferred the funds to her account, and left 15 for a taxi on the card. The transit station is back where Avina is, a terminal to her right. Bye."

"Well, see ya." The Rookie shook Sam's hand before heading back to Avina, when she heard Sam shout back.

"Hey, what's your name. Your real one."

"Jennifer." It was all she felt comfortable telling her, even if Sam could be trusted so far. She turned back and kept walking to the taxi. She payed for a ride to Chora's Den, too tired to really be bothered with whatever was happening all of a sudden.

The whole time she had only one thought in her head. _Would my life have just been nice and fun like these peoples if I had just left when the war ended. I think I would've liked to leave. Live on Luna again. Even if the ghosts of my family are still there. _Thought of her family and a happy life and memories of times before promptly sent her to sleep in the cab.

* * *

**A/N: **

**Thanks for all the reviews guys. Or gals. Or whoever. I really didn't expect to get any reviews really. It was my fourth attempt in private time to write a fanfic, and it was the only one I was confident enough to release. So, after posting it, I thought it was stupid, and considered removing it, but when I got the first review, I was instantly starting on the second chapter. I am glad to say, that the more of the reviews I get, the more motivated I am to write. So, keep 'em rolling in, keep them clean, and keep the beast's hunger for reviews sated.**

**Anyway, I know it isn't the Rookie's whole thing to talk, but some character interaction is needed, and the first few chapters are going to have a lot of questions that need answering. If you haven't noticed, I've also now made a rule where she only has full conversations when her helmet is off. Someone who reviewed last time said the name Jane Doe wasn't imaginative enough. I'm sorry if it wasn't clear, but she used that as a fake name in case Eden Prime was Insurrectionist, so she wouldn't be giving away her details. And I've given her a real name too, within the boundaries of JD, as set by Bungie.**

**You may have noticed this chapter is about a thousand words longer than the last. I'm gonna try to keep them between 7500 - 10000. Satisfying, but accessible. Anyway, I'm essentially updating this story as I complete chapters, and I do a few thousand words every day, so expect maybe just over half a week for each. Don't hold me to that though. Also, I'm gonna have a holiday hiatus in a week or two. **

**And a quick disclaimer for this week and lasts (which I forgot), I think there is literally nothing in this story I own, it's all Bungie's and Bioware's. And unfortunately, Mass Effect is EA's too. **

**See you until next time! Also, can you find all the references hidden throughout this chapter? **


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